Very first greetings from Scotland.

Here I am now in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. Still in a hotel though as I haven't got keys to my new apartment. Still, from the hotel window I can see the Firth of Forth and it is all pretty damn good. Program at Uni is yet to start, but sportswise it will start on Saturday and my Performance Psychology degree on Monday.

Thinking back and reflecting to the time after the last update. Yep, quite a long period – I know. After track nationals I was supposed to travel to Sweden for Tour of Jamtland, but as many of you well know that never happened. I sprained my back during the training sessions leading to track nationals and it didn't let me go to such demanding stage race at all, let alone in competitive form. Such things happen, it is just part of the sport.

Instead of Tour of Jamtland, I dozed myself with Ibuprofen, beetroot juice and carbs and at the same time had my back covered with Kinetic tape and went for the longest time trial of my life – it goes by the name of Kalevankierros. For my luck and great surprise it was actually easier to tuck into TT-position than on normal roadbike. Anyway, it was 68km long lumpy if not hilly route and I nailed my plan except that I managed juggle other of my gels midway through. Nailing the plan brought a solid result and I won the event. Happy ending for the summer season despite the aching back.

On my holiday I took a big chill and at the end had a family weekend in Budapest with my most important support crew. We wandered around Budapest, visited Sörözös and Borozos (ie. Pubs and winebars) and ate well. I also went, as our big time tradition is, to my godparent's cottage for a weekend visit. After that it was time to go back to basics.

Uphill sprints near Cramond

Now in Edinburgh. First hundred or so miles done. Waiting very much to meet and greet new people. From now on it is pretty much all academic work and training – in that particular order.

On the banks of Firth of Forth

All in all, the summer was very much okay and I feel that I reached some steps and progressed. The summer months also brought some changes to my training and lets say diet, which seems to be working well as well. I have to admit that I maybe didn't get quite all the results I wanted for one or another reason. But then again, I know that I made progress and there were some very strong rides in the mix. This is definitely a solid starting point for the winter season.